


A Queen’s Grooming

by dizzie_ds



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Detectives, F/M, No island
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-09
Updated: 2015-01-23
Packaged: 2018-02-28 19:30:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2744366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzie_ds/pseuds/dizzie_ds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Oliver Queen is an up and coming homicide detective with many secrets. When a close friend is accused of murder, Oliver vows to get to the bottom of it. His investigation sets him onto a path to meet a woman he doesn't know he was fated to eventually meet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chasing a Miracle

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fan-fiction. I clearly suck at summaries and tags. I would appreciate any words of advise to make it better. 
> 
> Any mistakes are mine.

 

When Oliver got the call to respond to the case at 104 21st Avenue & Stow and to get there ASAP, he was disappointed that his coffee break was cut short. He noted that dispatch specified it was captain’s orders. He was quite surprised about that bit of information. But as he quickly made his way to the address, he wondered what prompted the captain to drop this case on him. As he pulled over, he noticed that officers have cordoned off a section of the street. There is a body on the street.  
  


As he steps out of the vehicle, he sees an officer making his way toward him. “Officer Daley”, Daley nods at him in greeting. “What do we have?”, Oliver asks.  
  


He already noticed that Daley seemed uncomfortable with what he was about to say. “Male, 30s, appears to have been pushed out a 4th floor balcony.”, he says pointing upwards to a balcony towards the left side of the building. “We have a witness in the room who says a woman pushed the victim.”  
  


“Sounds like an open and shut case.” Oliver knows he is missing something.   
  


Daley’s reply stops him short. “Perp is Laurel Lance.”

 

Oliver’s breath leaves in a whoosh and his jaw hangs slack open stupidly. “What?!” He manages after a moment as if he heard it wrongly.

 

“Yeah. That’s what I said too.” Daley brings him up to speed on the case. The building is an old one. A five storey motel, ‘The Leaf’, that has long since seen better days. But this is the Glades. All the buildings here have seen better days. The witness is a man named Will Samuels, who claims that he was a friend of the victim, a John ‘J.D.’ Druery. According to Will, he helped set up a meet with Laurel to provide information on the billionaire, Martin Somers, in exchange for immunity. He recalled witnessing the pair arguing on the balcony. At which point, he claims to have seen Laurel push the victim and that was that. Laurel was immediately arrested as soon as cops reached the scene and both of them were currently on their way to the station to be processed. Laurel maintained that she was innocent and that she didn’t push J.D and Will was lying.  
  


He and Daley walk over to the body, now covered in a plastic shroud with a C.S.I crouching over it. “Hey Barry, what have you got for me?” Oliver greets the guy who looks impossibly young but he knows that the boyish looks and innocent, open look hides a very bright and smart mind. Barry is almost the same height as Oliver but there ends the similarities. Barry has dark hair and a light built. All lanky limbs. He’s dressed in a striped shirt over which he has a blue sweater on and jeans and sneakers, with gloves covering his hands. Oliver remembers the first time he met Barry and immediately thought he was just an intern. However, Barry’s professionalism and his ability to read a crime scene well quickly gained Oliver’s grudging respect and his tolerance of Barry’s very sunny disposition. He was easily the best C.S.I in the station. Oliver wonders again why Capt. Lance assigned him this case. Didn’t his close friendship with Laurel make him too close to this? Surely the Capt. would know that he may not approach this objectively. But then again, maybe it was just that. He probably knows that Oliver would do anything to prove her innocence.

  
“Oliver”, comes Barry’s greeting, lifting his head to look at Oliver, an ever present smile on his lips. “Like I already told Daley here, there isn’t much that I can tell you right now until I can get the body back to the lab. Cause of death is definitely from the fall. Immediate cause? His neck is broken. Doesn’t get more immediate than that. Spine – broken in two places that I can tell. Two or three ribs also broken. I’ll know for sure after the autopsy.” He pauses and then stands up, taking his gloves off and takes a deep breath and lets it out. Looking Oliver in the eye, he continues, “Look, I know that you’re friends with the suspect on top of the fact that she’s the captain’s daughter. Far as I can tell, it doesn’t look like he was pushed. His body landed too close to the building for it to have been. But... that depends on the testimony of the witness on how much force she used on the victim. That’s as hopeful as I can put it right now.” He looks at Oliver with sympathy in his eyes.  
  


Oliver doesn’t voice the obvious. The witness’ testimony can still be bad for Laurel regardless of what the autopsy might reveal. Witness testimonies won cases. He thanks Barry instead and asks him to call when the autopsy was done. He calls Tommy Merlyn, his best friend and leaves a message explaining the situation, when there is no answer. He can imagine the tension and stress and mild hysteria that would await him when his friend calls back.   
  


The next hour was spent taking down statements from the staff at the hotel and a handful of witnesses who stuck around. It was already dark out by the time that was done. Oliver decides to take a last statement from a small store across the street. For routine’s sake. The owner is a kind, old man, Murphy, who has owned the store for twenty years now. The little departmental store is stocked with only the most basic of needs. Oliver notices a security camera angled from the corner of the store towards the front door, getting a visual of the billing area and half-way of the windowed panel along the side of the store facing the street. But since the camera was at the street level, there was no way the camera could have caught anything useful. Old Murphy didn’t see anything. Just heard a dull thud as the victim landed on the pavement. His answer is similar to all the statements he has taken in the last hour. Oliver can feel the pounding behind his eyes. This isn’t looking good for Laurel. It would only be her word against Will’s. The odds were too even. If the case went to court, there was no way to tell who would win.  
  


He decided to go back to the station, having covered all he could for tonight. Follow-ups would have to wait till tomorrow. Also, he wanted to see Laurel and find out her story. As he drove, his thoughts once again wandered to the woman. Laurel wasn’t exactly a princess. She was not afraid to do whatever it takes to get the job done. She was strong willed and stubborn, just like her father.   
  


Laurel Lance, daughter of his Captain, Quentin Lance. The woman he loves. Wants. There is just a slight problem. She is currently dating his best friend, Tommy Merlyn. He and Tommy have been inseparable since childhood. Laurel had walked into their life back in high school. But back then, neither he nor Tommy was interested in steady girlfriends, living up their rich boy personas of having flavour-of-the-week type girlfriends. Laurel had too much self-esteem to agree to date either of them back then. He was always sure that given the choice, Laurel would have picked him over Tommy and it felt like a slap when he found out a year back, that they were dating. He couldn’t find fault with his best friend though. Tommy didn’t know about the secret crush that Oliver harboured for Laurel. Especially since he had dated Laurel’s little sister, Sara, for a while, years ago and although he flirted with Laurel every chance he got, no one felt that treatment different from the usual treatment he reserved for pretty girls.  
  


Laurel was working as a pro bono lawyer for CNRI, and currently levelling a civil lawsuit against Martin Somers. Everyone at the department knew Martin dabbled in drug trading with the Chinese Mafia. But there was never any proof to tie him to these activities. Clearly, tonight was going to change that. But it didn’t go according to plan.  
  


As he steps into the station, he goes to the captain’s office immediately. He knows the man would like to know the latest. He knocks at the captain’s door, stepping inside. The captain looks like he aged a decade in a day. He had been recently promoted. Just four months ago. The thumb and middle finger that were rubbing circles on his eyelids falls away from his face as he looks up at Oliver to see him close the door.   
  


“Please tell me you have good news.” Capt. Lance says, eyes full of hope. There was a lot that Oliver owed to the Captain. He was the one who showed Oliver how to be a cop, how to follow the gut instincts that he believed Oliver possessed and to channel his drive and motivation to find the truth. Oliver found himself wishing that he had something to show for to give some sort of lifeline to the man.

  
“It’s not much.” Oliver finally manages after a pause, taking a seat in front of the desk. “I’ve talked to witnesses. No one saw anything. The only thing they did see was the body hitting the pavement. It’s the witness’ word against Laurel’s.” After a beat, “How is Laurel?”   
  


“You haven’t gone in to see her yet?”  
  


“No. Figured it would be better if I had something before I did.”  
  


The Capt nods his head. Neither says anything about the fact that he doesn’t. “She says she’s innocent. But she’s scared. She won’t admit it though. She was relieved to know that you’re on the case.”  
  


“And how are you holding up Captain?”   
  


“Well, I’ve never been more tempted to knock back a drink ever before, I’ll tell you that much. I think she’s innocent. But I’m not sure if that judgement is coming from instinct or a father’s love of his child.” Lance sounds tired.  
  


“We’ll clear Laurel. I won’t stop until I do.” It sounds very cheesy even to his own ears. Oliver feels slightly awkward now.   
  


But Lance just studies him for a long moment. Finally, a ghost of a smile forms on his lips. “Well here’s hoping.” He says quietly. “Go see her.” dismissing Oliver.

  
Oliver nods his head and gets up to leave. When his hand is on the door knob, he pauses and looks back. “Why did you assign this to me? Aren’t we both too close to this?”  
  


“Are you saying you can’t handle it?”  
  


“I didn’t say that.”  
  


Lance puts both his arms on the table and leans forward. “I picked you ‘cos you don’t know how to give up.  ‘Cos like you said, you won’t stop until you do. It gives me a sense of comfort to know that bit of your usually troublesome trait stands to give my daughter a chance. I guess I was being a bit selfish...looking out for my daughter’s best interest. But I also know that you won’t distort facts. I know you’ll find out the truth about this but I also know you would never lie about it.” Oliver stays silent, turns the knob and leaves the office.   
  


The first thing he notices, when he enters the interrogation room, is that she looks dejected. Her arms are slumped down in her chair and her hair looks like her hand has run through it more than a few times. As she sees him, her face lights up ever so slightly. God, she’s beautiful, he thinks. Now he really wishes he had found some good news to share. To tell her that it was going to be fine. That he would protect her. They hug awkwardly and take their seats. “So, tell me what happened. From the beginning.”  
  


“I was working on a case against Martin Somers. Everyone knows he’s running a drug trade here in Starling with the help of the Chinese Triad. But I didn’t have any proof. A week ago, I got a call from a guy claiming to know someone who had gotten evidence that would tie Martin with everything. We agreed to meet today. I was asked to come to The Leaf to meet with the source and collect the evidence and also agree to grant him immunity for it. When I went in, I met J.D. and Will. J.D. was very nervous and he wanted to talk on the balcony. I didn’t know why at the time but I agreed. So we stepped outside. I asked him about the evidence but he said that he had been found out. That Martin knew he was going to sell him out to the authorities. He said he couldn’t let any harm come to his family. So he was backing out of the deal.”

“Will says he saw the two of you arguing. What were you arguing about?”, he questions.

 

“Well, of course. I mean, I told him we could provide protection to his family but that if he walked away now, he would be living in fear for the rest of his life. His evidence could save his family.”

 

“Alright. What happened next?”  
  


“He was so scared. He was shaking. He said he was sorry. And then...he just leaned over the railings...and he... fell.” Laurel chokes on that last word. “But I DID NOT push him.”  
  


“Ok Laurel. Is there anything else? Anything suspicious at all that you may have noticed?”  
  


“Well I was thinking about the whole thing while I was in here. Why meet if he decided not to turn in the evidence? It doesn’t make sense. He could have just stayed quiet. Or told me over the phone that he couldn’t do it. But he still came. I think I’m being framed.”  
  


“We will look into it.” They share a look with each other. “How are you feeling?” Oliver says softly.   
  


Laurel runs her fingers through her hair. “I just can’t believe it. I feel like I’m in the middle of a bad joke. The more I think about it, the more I’m sure I’m being set up. That street. The fact that Will was the witness at the right place at the right time. J.D. saying he was sorry before he fell. Ollie, short of a miracle, I can see only one result in this!”   
  


She’s breaking, Oliver can’t help thinking. ”Laurel”, taking her left hand into his right, “I already promised your dad that I wouldn’t stop. Not till I can clear your name.” He tries to put as much conviction into his voice. “I’m promising you the same. Don’t give up.” Their eyes lock.   
  


Laurel takes in a ragged breath. She smiles gently at him. “Thanks Ollie. You’re a good friend.” She takes her hand out from his and returns it her lap. Trying to break the tense atmosphere, she says “Have you spoken to Tommy? Do you know where he is?”  
  


When Oliver exits the room, he couldn’t help feel that she might be aware of his one-sided feelings for her and she tried, gently and not so subtly, to remind him that she was with Tommy. As much as he still wanted to comfort her and keep her company, Will’s testimony still needed to be taken. He stops at the coffee machine to settle himself. If he could get Will to admit that he was lying about what he saw, this could all be over very quickly.   
  


Taking his coffee cup and filling another cup, he enters Will’s interrogation room. Will Samuels didn’t have any police record. Just a few outstanding parking tickets. He ran a small laundry store. Oliver leaned on him for the better part of two hours. He tried the good cop approach. Offered him coffee. Make a few jokes. Promising that it would all be over soon. When Will stuck to his earlier testament, Oliver changed tact and dropped the whole good cop act. He leaned harder. Trying to get Will to make a mistake in his statements. They didn’t change.   
  


He and J.D. were not the closest of friends but according to Will, he was the only one that J.D. was close enough to. He asked Will to help him reach out to Laurel. He was the one who set up the meet at The Leaf. No, he didn’t hear a word of their conversation. Yes, he swears he saw Laurel push J.D. over the balcony. No, he didn’t think he imagined it.

  
When he finally leaves the room, Oliver can feel his headache building into a mild migraine. He knows he won’t sleep tonight. He has a surprise waiting for him at his desk. Tommy is sitting in front of his desk. “Tommy”, coming up from behind his friend and clasping a hand on the man’s left shoulder.   
  


Tommy’s dark eyes reflect how wired he senses the man is. But there is an edge to it. Oliver immediately recognises the anger in them. “Hey buddy”, Tommy gets up from his seat and embraces him. “Any luck?” Oliver just shakes his head in response. “Anything I can do? I don’t care. Whatever it takes. For her. I’ll do it.” Anger creeps into his voice with every statement. “That bastard Somers! I’m gonna make him pay for this!”  
  


“Tommy”, Oliver says softly trying to calm him down. “You’re angry and you’re upset. I get it. But you ranting death threats, in a police station no less, isn’t very smart and it doesn’t help Laurel. She needs you right now to just be there. That’s all you need to do. Leave the rest to the cops.”  
  


The preliminary hearing was scheduled for a week later. In the days following that night, Oliver followed-up with the witnesses. Nothing. He looked into J.D. and Will. Nothing. Autopsy. Nothing. He even took a copy of all the security tapes of stores in that street. He combed through them for hours. Nothing. None of them had a view of the floor he wanted. Only Old Murphy’s tape caught only a part of the street, opposite the hotel. But that didn’t help his cause. He grabbed a handful of hours of sleep every night just so he could function. His dreams were getting bad. He always saw his father in all of them. Screaming at his failure. He avoided going home. He left short messages for his mother to stop her from coming and checking up on him.

 

The day before the hearing, he is at his desk staring at the security footage tapes again. He hasn’t slept in 30 hours. A movement to his right catches his attention and he looks up to the form of one John Diggle looking down at him, two coffee cups in hand. John was frowning down at him, disapproval and irritation written into the lines of his face. “You look like shit.” he said shortly, “I think I’m prettier than you right about now. Your white ass playboy looks got nothing on me.”   
  


Oliver just rolls his eyes, takes the proffered coffee, grateful for it as he takes a sip. John Diggle is probably his one and only friend at the precinct. The man looks like he should be a bouncer at a club with his dark skin, brown eyes, closely cropped hair and powerful arms, the size of bowling balls that the button down shirt he is wearing does not help conceal one bit. He was assisting Oliver on this case, helping him run down leads.  
  


“Oliver, I’m gonna say this once.” Dig declares, sitting on the chair beside the desk on the right. “I know why you are who are you. What drives you to push yourself in all the cases you work on. But you working yourself to death helps no one. This case in no different from the one that got you into this particular ‘glamorous’ profession.” Dig says sarcastically, fixing a knowing look on Oliver, his eyes screaming wisdom and knowledge.   
  


Dig is the only one, apart from Capt Lance, at the precinct, who knows why he became a cop. Why he left his life of a billionaire playboy behind. At Oliver’s silence, he continues, “When was the last time you got decent sleep? I know you’ve been here since yesterday morning. “  
  


Oliver clenches his jaw tightly, his fingers tightening around his coffee cup. Dig sighs and leans forward on the desk, “This job is scraping away at your soul Oliver. You are good at this. You could be so much better. You could even enjoy it. But you don’t know when to just leave it be. When to take care of yourself. When your needs should come first. You can’t save anyone if you haven’t saved yourself first.”  
  


“Dig, I’m not looking for anyone to save me”.  
  


“Maybe not. But when you go too far, I’m going to pull you back and remind you that you’re not some superhero.” Dig gets up from his place. “Get some rest. Take a shower. Eat something. A fresh look at all this”, he gestures to his computer, “will do you good.”  
  


Oliver can’t find fault at anything the man just said. He leans back into his chair, tilts his head back and closes his eyes. That shower did sound good. He has been abusing his deodorant lately. For the rest of the afternoon, Oliver goes through the motions of grabbing some sleep, catching a short shower and grabbing some lunch. He feels much more fresh and awake now. His headache has subsided for the first time in days.   
  


It is past 7 in the evening when he catches his break. He is once again looking at the footage from Murphy’s tapes. He focuses on what he wasn’t watching the previous times. He notices the blonde walking past the front of the store just seconds before the body would have landed on the opposite pavement. He rewinds it again. _Please please, tell me I’m not imagining it._ He hits play. There she is. She is walking past the store’s door. Her head is tilted up and a little to the right side. She is looking in the direction of the hotel. _She saw it! She saw the entire thing._ He can hear his heartbeat speeding up and thundering against his chest.   
  


He all but races with the tape to the I.T. technician in the floor above his. He knows she wasn’t one of the witnesses who had come forward after the incident. He has to find her.   
  


He is in luck. Carl Rooney is still at his desk. After a short greeting, he quickly explains what he wants. The technician pours over the footage, editing it to get the best shot and minimise the blur to get an image of the blonde woman. “I’m sorry Oliver. This is the best I can do. You can barely make out her face. Just a hint of her side profile. It’s not enough to get a positive ID in the system.”, an apologetic look settling on his features.  
  


But Oliver has a smile on his face. “Give me a print-out of that image Carl. And thank you.” On his way out, he grabs his jacket and keys. The drive doesn’t take long. As he pulls up to his destination, he takes the print-out again and studies the blonde woman. He knows instinctively that he would recognise her if he met her face-to-face. That purple coat with the collar turned up. The blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. Glasses.   
  


He had been disappointed when after Carl worked his magic, he still couldn’t get a clear enough image of her face. But he did clear it enough for Oliver to make out what she was holding. A plastic cup with the “Big Belly Burger” logo on it. And there were only two in the half mile radius around the area.

  
He was in the parking lot of the first one right now. He was in luck. The employee behind the counter knew who she was from the image. She was a regular. Did he know her name? Yes, in fact, he did.   
  


Felicity Smoak.   



	2. Favours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I've been sitting on this for about two weeks. Not because it was difficult to write. This chapter was in fact the easiest. But I needed to iron out certain details that would be picked up upon later. Also, I needed to change Oliver's back story a bit. Fair warning - Next few chapters would most likely be angst-y for Oliver and everyone. I will bring in more levity once this plot line is over. Olicity is on slow-burn (at least that's the plan). This story will have cliff hangers. Ratings and tags - I will alter as we move along the chapters. 
> 
> That's it.. And here we go...

Oliver had once been an impulsive man. It was a perquisite for someone who grew up in one of the wealthiest families in the city. The Queen family was known to have things go their way. There was little that money could not buy for them. And Oliver had that exact air about him, that air that came with the knowledge of the power behind a name.

 

The Son. The heir-apparent. The cliched  blonde haired, blue-eyed, ivy league trained, frat boy. There was nothing he desired that he couldn’t have. He looked out for Number One. The only person whom he was really himself with had been Tommy. He and Tommy were like brothers. They always had the same thoughts. Shared the same dreams. Where one was, the other wasn’t very far behind.

 

But seven years ago, everything changed for Oliver. His dad, Robert Queen died. His world fell apart. Everything that he had been once proud of, now seemed like a joke. What once was pleasurable, seemed fleeting to him. The entire Queen family reeled from the loss. They lost most of their stake at their family’s company, Queen Consolidated, and consequently, a huge chunk of their fortune. Their lawyer had just barely managed to save the Queen Manor. His mother, Moira, had, however, finally decided to sell it. This put them in a position to be able to live a relatively comfortable life but it was nowhere near the opulence that they once had. Moira bought a comfortable five bedroom loft at one of the more respectable locations in the suburbs.   She had rarely left her room in the months that followed. His little sister, Thea, lost the innocent twinkle in her eyes. Oliver didn’t know what to do for them. Or he just didn’t really notice, too caught up with himself. Even in grief, he had been selfish. Whenever they were all together, it became uncomfortable. Stifling. When he finally made known his decision to drop out of college and enter the police academy, Moira had tried to talk him out of it. Thea didn’t say a word. They drifted further apart. But then again, they didn’t know his burden.

 

Moira eventually pulled herself together. The small stake she still had in the company still managed to open doors for her. She was now the VP of the company. Oliver had no doubt that she would soon regain all the wealth that the family lost if she hadn’t already. She never would go down without a fight. She also looked happier now and seemed to have put most of everything that had happened behind her. Although that bit, Oliver suspects was probably because of Walter Steele, the current CEO of Queen Consolidated. He is quite certain they were dating. How he felt on that matter he dismissed from his mind. Until he may or may not escape confrontation any longer. His mother seemed content with maintaining the status quo at home. She was probably waiting for Thea. Thea was in her final year of college now. Harvard Business School. Oliver hadn’t seen her for almost two years. But from the occasional conversations between them, he gleaned that she was excelling at it. She would be coming home in a month to begin her internship at QC.

 

Oliver had tried to mend his relationships with his mother and Thea. There was some good progress made in the years that followed his training. But it was like they existed in limbo. They all seemed to think it easier to pretend that everything was alright. That they had moved on. That they had let go of the past. Oliver just had no idea what the next step was. Both women seemed to be expecting something from him. But neither were helping his case out either. Thea hardly ever came home for the holidays, citing various excuses from the legitimate to the outrageous. His mother often stayed at the company, coming home late every night. Although Oliver now owned a two bedroom apartment, he still tried to visit his mom every other week and stay over. It didn’t help that Oliver found excuses on such days to stay at the precinct whenever he could, coming home only to take a shower and sleep.

 

As for his love-life, there was no escaping the determination that was Tommy. He was frequently dragged out by his best friend at every conceivable opportunity which were few and far between. But none of the women every held his attention. Pleasure was a momentary escape. They always wanted more. They deserved more. More than he was able to give. Six months was the longest that the latest one had lasted. He had just broken up with her a week ago.

 

Even at work, he currently didn’t have a partner. He hasn’t had one for a month now. His previous partner had taken an early retirement. DIg often assisted him on cases though and right now, was running down information on the elusive Felicity Smoak that Oliver had shared over the phone on the ride over back to the station.

 

“Find anything?”, Oliver questions as he reaches Dig’s desk.

 

“Got a home address. It’s late though.”

 

“I’m going. The hearing is tomorrow. Time is of the essence right now.”

 

Dig just snorts and scribbles an address on a page and hands it over to him. “By the way, Captain wants to see you pronto.”

 

When Oliver struts into the Lance’s office, he isn’t alone. Officer Daley is also present in the room. Nodding towards him, Oliver looks at the Capt. and asks, “You wanted to see me?”

 

“Diggle mentioned you found something?”, Lance says, eyebrows shooting up.

 

“Yeah. Possible witness. Just got an address. Going to meet her now.” Oliver replies, waving the page with the address on it in the air.

 

“Is it too early to be hoping for something?”

 

“Hope is all we have right now.”

 

“Let me see that”, Daley speaks, studying the address. “She? She didn’t come forward to testify about it?”

 

“Evidently not.”, he shrugs in reply.

 

“Well, I’m impressed Queen”, Daley smirks at him, handing the paper back, “Looks like you are more than the dropout everyone says you are.”

 

It isn’t the first time that Oliver has heard similar comments so he pointedly ignores saying anything. Lance just breathes out a ‘Good luck’ at him. But the hope in his eyes is unmistakable.

 

Felicity’s third floor apartment turns out to be three blocks away from the Big Belly Burger restaurant that Oliver had gone to earlier. It’s quite a smart looking building considering it was in the Glades. Oliver knocks on the door, waiting patiently.

 

When the door opens, Oliver has no doubt he has found the right woman. Felicity’s blonde hair is not in a ponytail but it’s let down and cascading over her shoulders, ending in soft curls. He notices the bright blue eyes behind the glasses perched at the tip of her nose. She is petite and tiny. Almost fragile looking. She is barefoot, dressed in purple pyjamas and a tank top, a red pen is hanging off the corner of her mouth. Oliver guesses he’s got maybe five to six inches on her.

 

“Felicity Smoak?”

 

“Hand over the tickets.”, she replies in answer, taking the pen out of her mouth and sticking her right hand out in front of her, palm up and open.

 

“Ummm.. I’m not whoever you think I am.” he says uncertainly, taking out and flashing his badge, “I’m Oliver Queen. Det. Oliver Queen, SCPD”.

 

Felicity’s eyes widened, pushes her glasses up her nose and quickly says, “Wait! I can explain! I was just doing favours. I’m not any sort of criminal. It’s just a hobby! I can always do it for you too.”

 

The pregnant pause that follows finally breaks when Oliver manages to utter, “What? You’re a...”, trailing off and staring at her.

 

At this, her eyes dart upwards to the right, and he knows that she’s rewinding what she just said to him, and then she’s violently shaking her head, “Nooo, nooo, noooo! I’m not a hooker or anything. Just a normal girl. Just a normal I.T girl from Vegas!” At that last word, she shuts her eyes and flinches. Lifting the index fingers of both hands, “Let’s just start this over again from the beginning.” She opens her eyes and looks at him expectantly. Oliver can feel a smile tugging at his lips, despite his initial shock. He opens his mouth to answer but before he can say anything, she furrows her brows and says, “Wait, Oliver Queen? As in son of Moira Queen, VP of QC, Queen?”

 

 _Here we go._ Oliver closes his mouth and winces slightly, “Yes.”

 

“I know who you are Mr. Queen!”, she smiles happily now, rambling clearly already forgotten.

 

“Mr. Queen was my father.”

 

“Yeah. But he’s dead.”, she shakes her head, “I mean he passed away. But you’re here…listening to my babble. Which will end now.”, finishing lamely.

 

After the whole scandalous affair surrounding his father’s death, Oliver had noticed that there were two ways people mostly reacted to him when they found out his name. The first completely ignored the death of his father, like it never really happened and the second went out of their way to offer their sympathies, eyes always full of pity. Now this woman, in her PJs, had neither shied away from that knowledge nor was their pity in her eyes. She had stated the obvious and there was no malice behind the way she said it. She just had no concept of a filter. She was, however, blushing. _Could anyone be more socially awkward?_

 

“Can I come in?”, saving her the embarrassment instead.

 

Felicity steps inside, opening the door fully to let him in. Her apartment is neat and tidy. Nothing out of place. Various paintings and show pieces of different colors decorate the room. It looked very bright, lively and vibrant. Felicity closes her door and waves him to her sofa.

 

After they both take their seats on opposite ends, he starts, “I came to ask you a few questions about what happened at The Leaf last Tuesday. We caught you on video,” he says taking out the blurred image of her and showing it to her, “from the store opposite the hotel. That is you right?”

 

She studies the picture for a moment. “Yes. You found me from this? The picture is so blurry.”

 

“The BIg Belly Burger cup in your hand was easier to make out.”

 

A look of understanding falls over her face. “Ah! Very clever.” She smiles a little and looks at him. “Yep, that’s me. I left early from work that day and when I got home, I got hungry and there was nothing at home. You’re lucky I’m a regular over there. One Big Belly Buster, extra fries and one strawberry milkshake. So, what do you wanna know?”

 

“Did you see the entire thing happen?”, he asks hopefully.

 

“Yeah. I don’t really even know why I looked up that day. I saw a man and a woman on the balcony. And then two seconds later, he’s backing towards the railings and he fell. It was awful.”

 

Trying to keep his excitement out of his voice and failing miserably, he questions, “Did the woman push him?”

 

“No. He backed up and fell over. I remember it quite clearly.”

 

Oliver closes and eyes and breathes out a sigh in relief. “Why didn’t you come forward with this information earlier?”

 

Felicity clasps her hands together and looked down at them on her lap. Quietly she says, “Someone I was very close to killed himself. He didn’t jump but still… when I saw what happened, I just couldn’t stay there any longer.” She swallows thickly.

 

“I’m so sorry about that. But that woman that you saw that day. She is being charged with his murder. A witness claims that she pushed him. So your testimony could be important to proving that she’s innocent in this.”

 

“Oh. Well I didn’t follow it on the news so I didn’t really know. But yeah, she didn’t push him. He fell on his own.”

 

“And you’ll testify to it?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“There is a hearing scheduled for tomorrow at ten. But this is great news for the defendant.”

 

“Alrig-”, her reply is cut short by the bell ringing. “Excuse me.”

 

She gets up from the couch and crosses to the door and opens it. “Felicity Smoak?”, “Hi, I’m Darren. I got you the tickets. I want to thank you so much for doing this favour for me. There is no way I can waste $300 on parking fines right now.”

 

By the end of his monologue, Oliver has stepped towards the door and is now behind Felicity. Felicity flinches when she feels him step behind her. “Umm.. I’m sorry Darren but I can’t do it. You see, I promised this detective here,” hooking her thumb behind her shoulder pointing at Oliver, “that I’m on the straight and narrow road now.”

 

Darren pales at the mention of detective and just nods at Felicity and Oliver and pointing a finger to his right mutters, “I’m just gonna go.” and disappears off.

 

Oliver waits for her to turn around and waits for her to look up at him, “So that’s the favour you were talking about? Fixing parking tickets? You’re a hacker aren’t you? And what was the price for ‘fixing’ it?”

 

“Free ice cream every Saturday for two months.”

 

“Mmm hmmm... I’m gonna let this go if you promise you won’t be ‘fixing’ any more tickets in the future.”

 

“I promise.”

 

“Alright then. I’ll see you tomorrow Ms. Smoak.”, stepping around her and out her front door.

 

“Felicity”, she corrects.

 

“Goodnight Felicity”, he utters softly.

 

“‘Night Oliver”, he hears as she shuts the door quietly.

 

When he walks to his car, he suddenly remembers that he’s forgotten to hand her his card. He debates turning around again. _Well, just in case._

 

Just as he is about to ring her doorbell again, he hears a window shattering and a scream from inside. “Felicity!”, he shouts out, turning the doorknob and luckily the door opens. An errant thought of irritation passes his mind at her lack of concern for personal security. As he slips his handgun from the holster on his hip, he immediately sees Felicity crouched behind the couch, a vase in her hand and an Asian woman with shocking white hair to her shoulder, with a dagger in her hand. The windows facing the couch are shattered and the woman in standing on the shattered glass in front of the windows. She stops when she sees Oliver. Before he can raise his hand, she throws the dagger at him. He just manages to dodge it in the last second and he can feel the whoosh pass the right side of his face.

 

“Stop!”, he yells at her but she’s already climbing right out of the shattered windows again into the night. “Stop!”, Oliver rushes towards the windows, gun raised and steps out onto a balcony where a fire escape runs along the edge of the balcony. He can see the woman rushing down the stairs. He bounds down them after her. “Police! Stop!”

 

There is a dark van parked down below and she jumps the last few feet onto the alleyway and darts into the back of the van, already pulling away before he can reach the bottom. “Fuck!”

 

As he makes his way back up the fire escape to the apartment, he makes a call out, reporting the break-in. As he re-enters the apartment, he can see Felicity peer out from behind the couch, still clutching the vase.

 

“Hey”, he calls softly, voice dropping to a quieter timbre automatically to calm her down, crouches down in front of her and takes the vase from her shaking hands and puts it on the table beside the couch, turning back to her. “Hey”, seeing the tears in her eyes and moving his right hand automatically to cup her face gently, “you’re safe.”

 

She looks up into his eyes, searching them. Whatever she sees there comforts her and she leans into his touch, surprising him. She slowly nods, her left hand lifting up to curl around the wrist of the hand on her face to keep his hand there. 'You're here."

 

"I forgot to give you my number." Oliver whispers, smiling a little to relieve the tense atmosphere. He is glad to see one end of her lips curl upwards.

 

  
Minutes later and Felicity’s apartment is swarming with cops. Oliver doesn’t like what just happened at all. Not one bit. He had recognised the woman who broke into the house. China White. Known to be working for the Chinese Triad. A trained assassin and Felicity had been the target.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I will be updating this for the remainder of the year. I do want to get at least two-three chapters ahead of the story so I can tie up any story holes. Next month, I promise! Hope you guys stick around. As always, reviews are most welcome. Mistakes are all mine. If tumblr is your thing then find me on dizzie-ds.tumblr.com.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this. Also, real quick..I need to thank everyone who read, commented and left kudos on the one-shot "What's in a picture?". It's probably everyday for someone else, but I didn't expect the response to it that I got. It's incredibly humbling. You guys give me confidence in writing that I never had before. 
> 
> Have a very blessed Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year! XO


	3. House Guest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody! Sorry I've been missing for sometime. 
> 
> I really struggled with this chapter. I ended up re-doing it everytime that I sat and edited it. I've lost count. I knew where I wanted the chapter to lead - but the stuff in between was much harder to put down than I thought it would be. I'm on a steep learning curve. Bear with me.
> 
> I hope you guys like this.

Felicity wanted to escape. She wanted nothing more than to crawl under her own covers and wake up tomorrow with the sunlight creeping into her bedroom and warming her room. The usual buzz of the world outside filling her senses as she woke up to the day. Maybe (half) an hour of decent workout. A hot cup of coffee. Toast and eggs. Maybe sneak a spoonful of ice cream before a really long shower. Soft music as she dressed for the day. She wished so much for the world to slow down for her just one day.

But the world wasn’t kind to her.

There had been people everywhere after the break in. She didn’t want to look, let alone talk to anyone. Everything was a bit of a blur. She had been taken to the station to make her statement. Oliver had finally filled her in on everything that happened. China White. Chinese Triad. _Wow_. She was targeted for being a witness. Laurel Lance. Martin Somers. J.D. and Will Samuels.

She needed time to process all this information. It was bombarding her mind. The problem with being blessed with a genius level brain was that it never stayed quiet for long, if ever. There was never a moment when something wasn’t firing in her cortex. So much so that, she often voiced them out so her mind could focus and move on to other thoughts. Although she had more of a rein on her mouth now than she did before, sometimes, much to her dismay, it was faster than her brain too. Which led to embarrassing “slip-of-tongue” situations.

Her thoughts drifted now to the latest victim of her guffaw. The man in whose bed she was currently sleeping on. That’s right. She was in the bed of the man who saved her life. Her ‘hero’. Platonically. Wearing one of his overly large t-shirts and shorts. ‘Cos she didn’t have anywhere else to go tonight. Her apartment wasn’t safe.

The world wasn’t kind to her. Not at all.

He had explained that there was probably a leak at the station and he didn’t know whom he could trust. She would be safe if she were with him. By tomorrow, the case could end up dismissed and the threat to her life would cease.

Oliver was currently in the living room space of his apartment. She can hear him pacing in the other room talking to Laurel and someone named Joanna, who was Laurel’s co-counsel. Felicity was happy to know that her testimony would mean Laurel would be cleared of the charges. The city needed more women like her, to stand up to people no one else seemed to want to go against.

But she had a bigger mystery now in her hands. Her mind was refusing to let it go. Oliver Queen was such an enigma. He was pretty well known, especially at the company. Everybody had at least heard about his past. Felicity had always wondered if he was like Moira. Clearly not. The man had another bedroom in the apartment. According to him, it was messy and didn’t have a bed in it. The door to it was closed. He had more or less ordered her to take his bedroom and he would camp out on the couch. Her protests were feeble. She just wanted to sleep and rest. She shouldn’t be bothered about mysterious men and their bedrooms. It was probably filled with porn. Maybe something else entirely innocent. If only her brain would let her sleep.

Felicity had caught a note of softness in his voice when he had spoken to Laurel. He had spoken to her the same way not a couple of hours ago when he was trying to calm her down. It irked her somewhat. In another few more hours, Oliver was going to be just another crazy story to tell the grandkids. Some fun story to share someday. She closed her eyes again and focussed on the sounds of his footsteps instead.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. His scent was everywhere around her, surrounding her and made her feel warm. Another deep breath.

❈❈❈

Felicity woke up as suddenly as she fell asleep. It took her a few moments to remember where she was. Oliver’s. Right. There was just a hint of light outside. Dawn was just breaking. She heard something outside her room. It sounded like Oliver. She slipped out of the covers, planted her feet on the floor and tip-toed to the door. Opening it quietly, she peered out. She couldn’t see anything. She stepped out fully from the room and walked towards the couch. Oliver was clearly having a nightmare. He was muttering, sweating and tossing around in his sleep. She bent over the back of the couch, reached out and shook him, trying to wake him up.

“Oliver. Oliver, wake up.”

Oliver woke up and sat up immediately, grabbed the gun from the table and pointing it at her, startling her. She yelped out, straightened and took a step back and knocked her head on the wall, muttering an ‘Ouch’.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. Are you ok?” Oliver’s voice reached her, as he put the gun back down on the table.

“I’m ok”, rubbing her head in response, “and that should be my question. You were having a nightmare.”

He didn’t answer immediately. He swung his legs over to the floor, grabbed a t-shirt beside him and put it on, effectively turning his back to her. “I’m fine”, he answered quietly.

She stared at his back for a moment and then, turned around and went back into her room.

❈❈❈

Oliver immediately regretted his curt answer when he heard her leave the room. He didn’t really mean to be rude. He was just caught off guard with her. He didn’t want her to see him like this. No one knew about his nightmares. But Felicity had just had a day much worse than him. She didn’t deserve the behaviour he had just meted out on her regardless of his own problems.

The sound of footsteps behind him were, therefore, a huge surprise. He turned around to see Felicity with a towel in her hand, walking towards him. She held it out in silent offering. He was touched by the action. “Thank you.”

His gratitude was met with silence. He glanced up into her face, noticed the conflict clouding her face. Making the decision for her, he gestured for her to take the seat next to him. She lowered herself into it slowly. He ran the towel over his face and around the back of his neck.

Oliver watched her wring her hands together. “I heard you mumble ‘Dad’ in your sleep.” He stiffened at that.

At his silence, she continued. “Oliver. I’m nobody. I mean, I’m somebody obviously. But we’re not in any relationship. Platonically, I mean. Or not, either. Oh my god, that didn’t make any sense!”  Felicity let out a huff, chagrined at her word vomit. “What I mean is, sometimes, it’s just good to talk to someone who is more stranger than friend. I’m not here to judge you Oliver.”

Oliver kept staring ahead. But he relaxed his tense posture. After a few moments, he finally said, “Have you ever been entrusted with a dying wish by someone?” smiling sardonically at the use of ‘wish’. “It’s like a deep secret. An unbreakable promise. An oath that doesn’t let your mind rest until it’s fulfilled.” He blinked repeatedly, surprised that he even said the words out loud and so honestly.

“Sounds like a heavy weight,” her eyes trailed down to his chest and his biceps, “Thankfully you look like you workout.” She flinched at her slip and slapped a hand to her head. “Ugh...and there goes my quota for making an idiot of myself in a day again.”

Oliver couldn’t help but let out a huff of amused agreement. She was easy to be around with. “You’re right though,” he threw a smirk at her, “I do workout. A lot. And, it is quite the weight. Sometimes I feel like it’s way too much. What he asked of me. I thought I understood what he wanted from me. But, when I look back, I feel like I’m on a fool’s crusade. Like I know just a part of a bigger puzzle that I haven’t even begun to make sense of.”

“Wait, I- I don’t understand. I thought you were the only one who made it to the lifeboat. When did your Dad have time to leave you his last wish?”

Oliver stared into her eyes. _Oh shit!_  “You have quite the good memory huh?” plastering a fake smile on his face.

“Well, I admit that I didn’t follow it in the news then. I came to know more about the incident after I joined QC. It’s amazing what kind of gossip you can catch at the coffee room.” Felicity looked confused and uncertain. “But, we don’t need to talk about it though,” she said slowly. She definitely picked up on his reluctance to talk about the incident. He thought he had a good poker face. Evidently, not with her. But, he certainly didn’t want her poking around the story.

“You work at QC?”

“You are the detective who found me from a Big Belly Burger milkshake aren’t you?” she said a little mockingly. But she was working hard to keep her lips from breaking into a smirk.

“Ha ha. Very funny. It was late. I needed to check your story ASAP. Home address was the easiest information I could get a hold of.”

“Woah! No need to get all defensive. I’m just teasing,” she said, putting her hands up in appeasement. She laughed a little at the look of consternation on his face. “But yes, I work at QC.”

Finally, after a long silence, he admitted, “The story in the papers about the accident might have not been entirely complete. Let’s just say my Dad and I had time for a final chat.” He had settled for giving her a half truth.

Felicity nodded at him. She seemed content with the answer. Studying her face closely for the first time, he can see how blue her eyes are, now that she had her glasses off and how beautiful she was. Oliver would never have given her a second glance if he had seen her on the street before. His eyes trailed down her face. Cute little nose, pretty pink lips. Her lips parted and his eyes flicked upwards to find her eyes watching him, watching her.  A blush broke across her face, travelling down her neck and chest, under his shirt, and flushed her pale skin with a warm red hue. His lips turned upwards at her self-consciousness.

Their conversation is halted when the alarm in his bedroom goes off.

❈❈❈

The courthouse was abuzz with activity. The scrutiny surrounding the Laurel Lance case had reached epic scales. A lawyer getting charged with homicide in the middle of her leveling a pro bono suit against a millionaire. The media were relishing the story. Various papers ran conspiracy theories that claimed J.D’s alleged illegal involvement with Martin Somers. They reached sensational proportions, from theories about Laurel being framed to blackmail to how the rich were being targeted by lawyers looking to make a name for themselves. A few others wondered if Laurel had been in over her head, taking on someone with too much clout and may have forced too much out of J.D., pushing him, unintentionally, literally and figuratively, over the edge. The fact that she was the daughter of an SCPD Captain and dating the son of a billionaire did not help matters.

Oliver himself had to contend with the media circus when the story had hit the wire. Media reporters had raised concerns over the fact that he and Tommy were such close friends. Capt. Lance had done his best to help Oliver navigate all the agitating questions and doubts. It certainly helped that having a side, for the media, was something that Oliver was familiar with. He had ample practise especially after the accident. He was happy that everything was hopefully going to come to an end today. They had successfully been able to contain any information regarding Felicity’s potentially life saving testimony.

Both Laurel and Joanna had been ecstatic when Oliver had called them last night. Laurel had been released on bail the day after her arrest. Although she could have handled the case against herself, by herself, Joanna had been an obvious inclusion on the defence team. She and Joanna were good friends at CNRI and Laurel needed a sounding board to help with the case. Joanna had called the prosecutor handling the case against Laurel with the information about Felicity, although her name was kept out of it. Felicity’s testimony, along with the forensic evidence that Barry had gathered, was enough for the judge to rule insufficient grounds to proceed. The prosecution were still keeping mum on what they planned to do next.

Oliver had driven Felicity back to her home so she could get ready. On their drive to the courthouse, he replayed their conversation from the morning. He was quite amazed with himself. But more with Felicity. He had no idea what had got over him to share about his past with her. He certainly never did with anyone. Both Dig and Capt Lance knew part of the story. Definitely not after a first meeting. He had known, instinctively, that he could trust her. He was nonplussed with his own actions. Maybe the fact that she was a stranger made it easier. Maybe it’s because he had needed to say it out loud just once. He glanced at her, now walking beside him, as they made their way inside from a back entrance to escape the media at the front.

More to the point, he had shown her the real him for a moment. He always steered clear from conversations about how he felt. He talked. Talking was easy. But he never shared. He was so used to putting on appearances for everyone else, that he usually slipped onto it without second thought. Like muscle memory. But with her, she seemed to have just bypassed those walls. Maybe it was the circumstances under which they met each other. It unnerved him a little bit that she knew part of his story. His real story. He glanced at her again and shook his head.

_Who the hell is this Felicity Smoak?_

He had received a text from Tommy during the drive over. They were waiting at the courthouse. They all wanted to meet Felicity. _This should be good_ , he thought wryly.

❈❈❈

Felicity was glad that Oliver didn’t seem to be in such a talkative mood on the drive over. She needed time to sort through her brain. Her talk with Oliver had been quite revealing. The tales regarding Oliver Queen were famous at work. His career choice, notwithstanding, the tragic trip of Robert and Oliver on board their 70 foot yacht, the Gambit, was a story everyone at the company knew. The Queen patriarch and his son had left for a trip to Hong Kong. Four days into the trip, a lawsuit had been filed against Robert for embezzlement. A group of private investors had claimed that they had been approached by Robert to loan him funds to invest in a potentially groundbreaking research at QC. But they found out that the research itself was non-existent. At the news, the voyaging Queens made their return home. A storm had broken out that night, damaging the yacht and capsizing it. The captain was able to send out a distress signal before the Gambit sank. A week later, Oliver Queen was found alive, drifting on a lifeboat somewhere in the Atlantic.

Investigators had found that whatever funds that Robert had procured from the investors, he had invested on research that was being conducted inside the premises of a former Queen Steel Factory that was in the Glades. It had been converted into a research facility. The day before the suit was filed, it had burned down. The entire research had been lost. Harrison Wells, the man who had been leading the research, had disappeared. Although Robert had claimed that it was a QC research project, there had been no proof that QC had invested a dime in the project. They had no idea what the supposed research was about.

To settle the suit that was filed, Moira had no choice but to liquidate a huge chunk of the family assets. They had been reduced from billionaires to millionaires. The image of the company took a heavy hit. In the following years, the steady leadership of Walter Steele, helped steady the share price of the company and subsequently, it rose again from the ashes.

Oliver’s decision to join SCPD instead of the family business had been a surprise to everyone. By the time Felicity joined QC, Oliver had more or less fallen out of the gossip columns in the papers. The gossip at the company didn’t stop though. He shied away from photographs and he seemed to prefer a more private life. He was still known to enjoy the occasional party out in the town, with Tommy Merlyn and always had some pretty woman on his arm. He was known to attend the company’s annual galas. Otherwise, he never came to the company.

Felicity saw him sneak glances at her during the drive. Like he knew that she was trying to figure him out. Although, many analysts have pegged the Queen fortune at the billions again, everything at his apartment seemed more practical than decorative. It was devoid of much colour, a stark contrast to her own. The only personal thing in the apartment had been pictures of the family in his bedroom. The furniture looked expensive but if she were to hazard a guess, she would immediately say that he didn’t pick any of it.

He seemed devoted to his work. He was smart. He had seemed surprised at himself for sharing about his past earlier. Obviously, he didn’t talk about such subjects very easily. His comment about his father’s last wish had her thinking about her own father’s. There was, evidently, more to the story about that night than what the papers knew. Although Felicity had accepted his answer, she realised that he never really said whether his conversation about the dying wish had been at the Gambit or the lifeboat. She was slightly disappointed that Oliver may remain a mystery that she wouldn’t solve. Her time with him was running out.

She thought about the way he had studied her face. She had been so conscious about herself. He had smiled though. That was something. His intense blue eyes made her heart beat faster, her entire body warm. The gossip mongers got that bit right. She had no doubt he could make women swoon with one look. The stubble on his face accentuated his square jaw. His dirty blonde hair made her want to run her fingers through it to test if it was soft. Those little smiles that broke across his face! He was hot. Scratch that. He was insanely hot and sexy.

_The rest of him was, too._

The short visual she got of his torso before he slipped on his shirt just made her more conscious of his significantly huge and well defined frame. She wasn’t kidding when she let slip that he looked like he worked out. His hands were so large. She was sure his hand covered the entire side of her face when he had cupped it the previous night. Felicity had never felt so physically attracted to someone so much before. She thought she was more of a ‘brains before brawn’ kind of person. In her defence, she wasn’t blind. There was no denying beauty. When he was caught staring at her, she couldn’t look away and for those few seconds, she had forgotten all about her current predicament.

Her mind tuned back into the present. Oliver led her down a series of hallways. They stopped at a door, which Oliver opened without knocking. Inside was a man and a woman. The man looked very familiar although she couldn’t place a name to the face. As soon as Oliver stepped inside, he said, “Ollie, I was just going to call you. The prosecution has decided to drop the charges. Will Samuels was just found dead in his apartment.” At Oliver’s shocked silence, he continued, “Quentin just got the call. No other details though.”

“So,” Oliver huffed out a breath in part relief and astonishment, “it’s all over.”

“Yeah Ollie,” the woman said as she and Oliver shared a quick hug in greeting and the dark haired man walked over to join them. They both looked at Felicity expectedly.

“This is Felicity Smoak.”

“Hi! I’m Laurel Lance. I’m so happy to finally meet you. It doesn’t make a difference now, but it meant everything until a few minutes ago and I wanted to thank you for that.” She was dressed smartly, in a matching grey skirt and jacket and a silk blue top. A pair of black heels covered her feet. The pictures in the papers hadn’t done her justice. She was gorgeous. Her blonde curls framed a high forehead and a long face. Her smile lit up her face and her eyes shone with sincerity as she clasped Felicity’s hand.

“Tommy Merlyn,” Tommy held out a hand and flashed her a well, practised toothy smile. Everything about him screamed suave. He was clean shaven. His short dark hair and thick eyebrows matched his eyes and a lazy grin adorned his face. He had an air of self-confidence about himself. Definitely got the whole playboy thing down pat. She knew that face was familiar.

“Trust your gut Felicity. That smile is, indeed, trouble,” interjected Oliver, tilting his head towards her in a mock whisper.

Tommy snaked a hand around Laurel’s waist and said, “Don’t believe a word he said Felicity,” He turned to Oliver and said, “And don’t you go stirring up trouble.” He tilted his head down to look at Laurel, “I’m allowed to smile at someone who potentially saved my girlfriend from wearing orange jumpsuits.” Laurel looked up at him and smiled. They looked good together.

She had sensed Oliver’s deeper affection for Laurel the previous night but she didn’t know if he just spoke that way to other people. If she paid more attention to the news and the gossip at work, she would have put everything together much sooner. But she hadn’t had any time for that. Aside from the horrible memories that the day had brought up again, it had been a busy week at work with their department installing upgrades in the system and resolving bug issues with performance.

“We were sorry to hear about the whole break-in thing at your house,” Tommy said, “I’m sure Ollie here went all Terminator and made sure no hair on your head was out of his sight.”

“Yeah, he kept us safe last night,” and tacked on, “From harm, I mean.”

Tommy and Laurel just smiled and Oliver just shook his head in amusement or incredulity, she wasn’t sure.

❈❈❈

The turbulent drama in her life ended as soon as it started.

Oliver had to get back to the station. With Laurel’s name now cleared and herself safe now from assassins, she didn’t want to spend another second at the courthouse. She had bigger things to worry about. Work was piling, waiting back at the office for her.

Since they were going in different directions, Oliver helped Felicity get a cab to work. As Oliver murmured a ‘ _Goodbye Felicity_ ’ and closed the door for her, she suddenly realised that her time with him was over. She had imagined that they would be at the courthouse for a few hours, but with the change in situation, she belatedly realised that this may be the last time she would speak to him. _But I still hadn’t figured him out yet_ , her brain supplied an excuse at her dejection. She just had time to wave at him before the cab joined the traffic and she lost sight of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback me.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure how frequent I will update. But will try my hardest. :)


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